Mikel Arteta says Arsenal’s victory in the Community Shield has raised confidence in the camp but he knows his players can perform better as they gear up for the new season.
The Gunners ended a run of eight consecutive defeats to Manchester City with a late equaliser that sent the match to a penalty shootout and the ensuing spot-kick victory was heartily celebrated by players and fans alike.
“Winning is the first energy booster that exists,” said Arteta when asked what the result has done for the dressing room.
“It was great, everybody was so happy. It raised the confidence and showed everybody what we can do.
“But there is still an understanding that we must do better and we can still play much, much better. The Forest game is going to be a completely different story and a different context and we’re going to have to be ready for it.”
Having run Manchester City close last season, Arsenal, the Gunners are expected to challenge again this time around. Not since the peak years of the Arsene Wenger era have the fans been so optimistic in the build-up to a campaign.
Clearly, those expectations bring an added pressure that Arteta’s players haven’t had to deal with. For now, he just wants everybody to enjoy the ride.
“I think it’s excitement. This is where we want to be. We are building a team that has the belief and the quality to be fighting for those places,” he said.
“The competition this year is going to be even harder than last year. You see a lot of teams with the movements they’ve made and you have to expect something different of them.
“So we’re going to have to be much better this year than last year, and this is what we’re preparing to do.”
He added: “The reality is that in football, you have to be at your best on the day. It’s only about today and tomorrow and playing the way we want to play and increase the probability of winning the game but we have to earn the right to do that.
“I’m super excited, I think it’s a new challenge and a new opportunity. We’re very fresh to start again and we’re excited to play our first game at home as it’s been a while.””
Like the majority of the Arsenal fan base, I haven’t had this excitement in a long while. And given the additions we’ve made, I strongly believe we can not only challenge but even outmaneuver City and the likes of Liverpool and Man UTD . I was surprised that of all the BBC pundits, only one predicted Arsenal to win the league. Yet even last season with a far inferior squad, we could have beaten City to the title had we not suffered injuries. This time Arteta has moved to add quality cover in almost all departments to cushion us from… Read more »
As long as we start fast I agree. We need 9/9 points from Forest, Palace and Fulham.
The Charity Shield win was utterly meaningless: City have lost their last 3 CS games and then have gone on to win the league. I’ve got no doubt that we’ll be in contention for the title again this season, the massive question is whether or not these players will bottle it again over the last quarter of the campaign as they have done for two seasons in a row. I can’t stand the thought of yet another spineless capitulation. If that happens then Arteta should go. Forest need to be routed 4- or 5-0 tomorrow in order to send out… Read more »
Can we remove the thumbs down limit for fats @arseblog ?
“The Charity Shield win was utterly meaningless.” be serious–it doesn’t mean a lot, but it does mean something. What would Fats have said if we had lost 6-0? Which do you think he would have said:
(a) It doesn’t matter, the purpose is to get out players match fit.
(b) This shows the same spinelessness that caused Arsenal to bottle it last season.
He’s consistent, you gotta give him that.
He probably thinks the invincibles drew too many games, so they shouldn’t really be known as invincibles
The best thing about The Invincibles was that they ACTUALLY WON SOMETHING!!!
Winning is all that professional football is about. Loser deserve contempt.
so losing to manchester city for a ninth consecutive time would be a good thing? seems to me like the win was a positive for the fanbase and the team’s morale heading into the new season.
you can tell by pep’s reaction and the squad he put out how he felt about the game beforehand. clearly the ‘meaningless’ tag is something a fair few people have grabbed onto because the result didn’t go the way they wanted.
If City do the double over us again this season and win the league again then yeah, the CS result will be meaningless,
If me Aunty had bollox fats she would be me uncle
Cheer up mate
My take from the Community Shield (a match both mangers clearly wanted to win, but not at all costs) is that we are not far from City. They were certainly a couple of weeks behind us in terms of training–their team was probably at the level of fitness of Declan Rice. On the other hand, we were without two of our most influential players, Jesus and Zinchenko. For me, it indicated that we will likely be able to mount a title challenge again (not regress a bit to a difficult battle for top four). We have lost one important player,… Read more »
The charity/community shield is utterly meaningless as a trophy but the psychological aspect of it was significant – even if it just meant a confidence boost.
Lets wait and see what happens..
If Arsenal can start on the front foot again this season and get their noses in front again by January, they will more difficult to rein in, City or not.
Everybody saying the charity shield is unimportant and I agree, but I also remember the absolute buzz everybody felt after battering Chelsea in a random friendly last season and the momentum that helped create before the world cup
That’s the match that made me believe, we have a different Arsenal.
Funny enough, I was just thinking that I was more excited about the start of last season, because of that match